I don’t understand this at all.
What’s going on here? Democrats just went through one of the worst public relations weeks (Imagine: this was one of the least of their embarrassments!) for their party imaginable. President Trump shined on the world stage. GOP candidates for governor in both Virginia and New Jersey were surging. So Republicans decide to say “Hold my beer!” and let their inner Nazis and racists frolic? What the hell?
The first incident is the most confounding. An image captured by Zoom in the background of a virtual meeting in the Congressional office of Rep. Dave Taylor (R-Ohio) showed the cubical wall below…
…with an altered American flag with a Nazi swastika in the stripes. Alongside the flag are pinned images of a pocket Constitution and a congressional calendar. Taylor, seemingly caught Heil-handed, naturally condemned the symbol as “vile” and said his office was investigating with the U.S. Capitol Police. “I am aware of an image that appears to depict a vile and deeply inappropriate symbol near an employee in my office,” he said in a statement. “The content of that image does not reflect the values or standards of this office, my staff or myself, and I condemn it in the strongest terms.”
Taylor called the flag “vandalism.” I call him an untrustworthy idiot if he isn’t a Nazi, and he needs to resign and then be stuffed into a barrel with fat Lithuanian midgets*, never to see the light of day again. This couldn’t happen if he didn’t have the management ability of the average dairy cow. Who has he hired to be on his staff? Were candidates screened so that anyone with an IQ over 70 was automatically disqualified? A. Someone puts that Nazi thing up. B. Nobody does anything about it. C. It’s visible to a third party during a Zoom call! This is res ipsa loquitur in throbbing neon lights. Taylor is responsible, there is no excuse for it, and however it happened, he should be jettisoned and back to Ohio, because it’s illegal to shoot him and too messy to have him tarred and feathered.
But wait…there’s more! The day before, Politico revealed these…
They are some of the juicier comments leaders of Young Republican groups throughout the country made during a mass Telegram chat that was, of course, leaked. Among the thousand of typed remarks were those referring to blacks as monkeys and “the watermelon people.” The participants thought it was funny to joke about killing political opponents in gas chambers and raping progressive women. Some comment spoke nostalgically of slavery, and lovingly about Hitler.
The Telegram chats (I never heard of “Telegram” before) spanned more than seven months of messages among Young Republican leaders in New York, Kansas, Arizona and Vermont. Now, there is an argument to be made that Politico held on to this “bombshell” revelation until the Axis website felt that it was strategic to slam conservatives when they were getting too cocky, but so what? Smoking guns are no less damning whenever they surface.
Politico writes, “The chat offers an unfiltered look at how a new generation of GOP activists talk when they think no one is listening.” I don’t see how anyone can quibble with that.
The Young Republicans moved swiftly to try to repair the damage, purging the leaders who participated in the chat and closing down some of the chapters entirely. It’s not enough.
Now what?
* Pop movie quiz: Where is that reference from?
Ethics Alarms 
Ever since I was a kid (or particularly when I was a kid), I’ve always looked askance at “Young Republicans.” Are there “Young Democrats?” Young Republicans just seemed to give being clean cut and business-oriented a bad name. A strange phenomenon.
The idea is that the stereotype of conservatives is that they are old fogeys. In my experience, “Young Republicans” tend to embody another stereotype, bespectacled nerds on the autism spectrum who never have had a date and were always picked last in sandlot baseball games, wearing bowties like early Tucker Carlson. Great image. Apparently there no women or blacks on that chat. Telling. What assholes.
And then there’s the suspicion they are closeted gay guys who are virulently homophobic as a ruse.
See, e.g., “Animal House.” I guess some things never change.
I was friends in college with the guy who was the actual model for both of the student villains in that film: the fascist Niedermier and the preppy Greg Marmalard. Doug Kenney, who wrote the film (and played “Stork”) debated the Vietnam war with him repeatedly and got his revenge. As it turned out, my preppy, conservative friend was a very kind and decent man.
Amazing.
I’d say the Omegas fit the Young Republican type.
Ya think?
And let’s not leave out Fridge Swanson. And isn’t Tucker Carlson the Swanson frozen foods heir? Did you know the model for Amanda in Cambridge?
Regarding the altered flag…
1. Does this altered flag actually exist?
Why would I ask that; because technology is making it easier and easier to alter photos and videos to depict whatever the editor wants to show. Someone needs to actually prove it exists.
2. If it does in fact exist; who altered it and who put it there?
These questions cannot go unanswered, there must be 100% full transparency.
Regarding the alleged Telegram chat…
Did this actually take place or is it some kind of fabrication?
I don’t know how Telegram works, but what instantly struck me was the fact that there is absolutely no identification as to who typed what messages; no moniker, no psydonyme, nothing whatsoever.
Yes, you bet I’m skeptical and rightfully so…
The tell, Steve, is that neither the Congressman nor the Young Republican assholes have denied the stories, although a few of the latter made weak “taken out of context” and “maybe we were hacked” noises.
Ugh.
I’m not sure how context is missing here unless they also want to try the tried-and-also-idiotic “We were practicing for a play” via chat excuse!
And yet I am seeing all sorts of desperate defenses from conservatives, which is almost as unethical as the texts.
Oh, sure. When push comes to shove, both sides do the exact same things. The conservatives would show no more mercy to the liberals/progressives if the situations were reversed. No standards exist unless they’re double standards. I use that line a lot when it comes to Democrats but, in truth, the Republicans are just as guilty.
Hypocrites. Fools. Disgraces.
Jack wrote, “The tell, Steve, is that neither the Congressman nor the Young Republican assholes have denied the stories…”
So when did not saying something is false automatically imply that it’s true?
I don’t know whether any of it is actually true or false at this point, but my skepticism tells me to wait and see at this point.
In those situations? How about Always? It’s like in “Columbo” when they tell the husband the wife he murdered is dead and he doesn’t ask “How did she die?’ If someone came to me and said, “we have a tape of you claiming to be Jesus” my immediate response would be, “That’s ridiculous. Its a fake. I never said that and never would.” NOT “it must have been taken out of context”….
I would challenge any manager to know at any given time what is displayed in their employees cubicles until it gets reported to them. This flag is created in a manner that is not an in your face Nazi reference. It is camouflaged by the overall flag reference. It is easy to see if you are focused on the items in the cubicle but human beings tend to not see important details with cursory glances. I find the idea that an individual in a zoom meeting would even have the cubicle contents in the background when it takes no talent whatsoever to provide a stock background or a blurred one. More importantly, who did report this and why did no other person on the zoom meeting inform the Congressman if it was so obvious. You would have to assume his entire staff are Nazi sympathizers.
The flag is altered and that is plainly obvious because the reds and the whites have different hues. A screen shot by a third party could have created it and the Congressman. His response: ” “I am aware of an image that appears to depict a vile and deeply inappropriate symbol near an employee in my office.” “The content of that image does not reflect the values or standards of this office, my staff or myself, and I condemn it in the strongest terms.”
He stated he is aware on an image. However, he doesn’t state that he is aware of the actual physical object. What we do not know is if he had gone to the cubicle and investigated its physical presence. If the object was not there then all he can say is he is aware of the image that is being broadcast by those seeking to undermine him.
Lately I feel like Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men because I seem to be willing to let facts play our before I run to condemn someone. I really do not think it is beyond plausibility that others are doing what they can to discredit conservatives. Why not since Nancy Pelosi explained the way to smear someone and HRC paid to create a document of smears and falsehoods against Trump. In the immortal words of Harry Reid ” It worked didn’t it”.
I’m with Steve on this and if it is proved that the Congressman knew of and tacitly allowed the object then he should be held accountable.
RE; Politico’s reportage on the Young Republicans. Nothing in that image above provides any context. I have no idea what was in the “Mass Telegram” . I will say the same thing of the Young Republicans. Name the persons involved so that the public can assess their conservative bona fides. We may just find out that these people simply infiltrated the organization to undermine it. Without names we cannot do any evaluation.
To suggest that a handful of derogatory responses out of thousands reflect a culture embedded in the group as a whole is no different than claiming all blacks are lazy because some don’t seek work and stay on the dole. The idea that Young Republicans are quite likely to reflect the ideals of Greg Marmalard and Douglas Niedermeyer or some other stereotype that is disfavored is totally unethical. Such responses are little different than the crap in question.
“To suggest that a handful of derogatory responses out of thousands reflect a culture embedded in the group as a whole is no different than claiming all blacks are lazy because some don’t seek work and stay on the dole.”
Come on. Seriously? I have taken part in thousands and thousands of discussions on as varied topic as I can imagine, from high school to today, and never, never has anyone, not one time, suggested that rape was an appropriate way to treat women, said anything close to expressing affection for Hitler, or wished for a return to slavery, seriously or in jest. Moreover, if anyone had said or written something like that, if someone else didn’t immediately admonish the asshole at fault, I would have. I remember a single conversation late at night in colleg where we discussing the impossible problem of dealing with the poor, and my provocative room mate, whose style was to toss metaphorical bombs into the middle of the room to see what kind of response they got, said, deadpan,”Well there’s always the option of just killing them.” The reaction was a chaos of laughter, horror, protests, indignation and anger, followed by an even better discussion. I cannot imagine a context in which anyone I have ever had a close relationship would refer to “watermelon people.”
I have only been able to find the word cloud of the horrible things, there is apparently seven months of unseen posts, which could very well include some significant admonishments or rebuttals to the offensive ones.
Would it surprise that such posts would be left out of the outrage fodder of the rest?
It would surprise me if they kept having these meeting if that was the kind of content contained in them and most participants objected.
When you believe that it is not worth engaging a moron because it only emboldens them to make more fatuous and insane comments it makes perfect sense not to engage. You can see this various blogs that are frequented by trolls.
The moronic behavior of such individuals is fed by causing people to get up in arms over something they say. What we do not know is whether or not these individuals represent the group’s values or are they simply agent provocateurs who infiltrate organizations to undermine the organization as a whole.
Trolls = Civility Assassins
I agree on the question about the flag. They really need to figure out who did it. If the unaltered flag had been up for some time, I could see myself walking past and not noticing the change if it was in a place I did not walk head-on towards, so I’m willing to give the congressman the benefit of the doubt and assume he didn’t notice it.
It looks like a plastic flag. Surely they can find fingerprints. And, yes, I do think it would be worth the time and resources to check that or whatever else they need to to find out who did that.
Telegram lets you have encrypted chats. (Very popular with drug dealers, not that I’d know that first-hand.) But, in theory, my chats on it are safe from viewing by any person who isn’t part of the chat. That makes hacking unlikely, but a group chat is only as safe as the most careless person in the chat. Of course, some people will say they were “hacked” when they mean they gave their credentials away to someone who tricked them.
You must tie your Telegram account to a telephone number – which it verifies, so it is not completely anonymous. The texts show the initials of the people chatting, or at least the initials of the name they used to register. While I could imagine that some of the Nazi comments were young people who got tired of being called Nazis and thought it would be funny to lean into it as a joke among themselves, I think the reaction among others of their organization indicates there probably was more to it than a few guys who wanted to be edgelords.
mardybum wrote, “The texts show the initials of the people chatting, or at least the initials of the name they used to register.”
That doesn’t appear to be factually accurate based on the screenshot that Jack shared, which apparently came from Politico who broke the story.
There’s not any, I repeat NOT ANY, identifying initials – absolutely nothing! No initials, moniker, psydonyme, name, in fact there is absolutely nothing to identify who submitted each of the comments presented in the screenshot.
If what you say is true about the initials, then the screenshot presented has been intentionally edited and therefore my skepticism is warranted and I do not trust anything about the screenshot as being accurate or truthful. Furthermore, I have never, ever, seen a layout of comments in that kind of apparently random format (some are actually slightly overlapping others) no matter what kind of social media I’ve participated in. It’s been my experience that comments are linear, posted one after another in the exact order in which they were submitted and they included the commenters moniker (whatever that is) or initials, and they include some kind of time identifier showing when the comment was posted.
Since I’m not a user of Telegram I cannot know details of how they present these things on their application/website. If I’m incorrect about any of the things presented, someone need to present some fact based screenshots to prove my assumptions incorrect.
I welcome being better educated about Telegram if you can present some facts. I did go to YouTube to do a little digging and I couldn’t find in my search anything that shows a comment thread.
The linked article attaches names and positions to some of the quotes.
Jack Marshall wrote, “The linked article attaches names and positions to some of the quotes.”
Thanks.
I clearly hadn’t scrolled down beyond the initial graphic in that Politico article, I usually avoid Politico like the plague.
That linear thread reads like a ignorant adolescent trolls trying to one-up each other with extremist hateful rhetoric, well now they’ve been unmasked and they’ll have to pay the piper.
Those “teenage trolls” indulging in high spirited boyish hijinks are all over 20, and many are in their 30s. One is 36. Others in the “Young Republicans ” are 39, but none of that vintage are proven to have participated in the egregious Nazi stuff.
VP Vance has excused the calls for Jews to be incinerated as mere shitposting by juvenile Edgelords. As if they were 14 not 34. He may not have been aware that some of the posters were pushing 40.
These are supposed to be the future leaders of the GOP. They certainly reflect a substantial part, the cutting edge, of the party hierarchy. It’s not yet fashionable to admit that. You’ll know things have gone over the line when they don’t try to conceal it, but boast of it.
I’m old enough to remember when only the far left did things so egregious and puerile.
Zoe,
It’s been a while, welcome back.
You wrote, “Those ‘teenage trolls’ indulging in high spirited boyish hijinks…”
You write that as if you think I was trying to rationalize their behavior, I wasn’t doing anything of the sort. If you got another impression, I respectfully ask that you reread the totality of what I actually wrote.
I don’t give a hoot if they were in their 50’s and 60’s, the “linear thread reads like ignorant adolescent trolls trying to one-up each other with extremist hateful rhetoric”. That was my quote minus the unintended lingering “a” that was left in after not proof reading. I call out apparent ignorant adolescent behaviors when I see it and I don’t care what their physical age is, it’s not a rationalization it’s condemning what I see as immature behavior. What these ignorant trolls wrote was immature and reprehensible and I don’t condone it one bit.
Now to repeat this once again without any reservations or rationalizing whatsoever, “now they’ve been unmasked and they’ll have to pay the piper”.
Speaking of adolescent behaviors…
Wanna see lots and lots of ignorant adolescent behaviors and see how immature adolescent behaviors are built upon each other and spiral out of control as they’re spewed out as fact by people exercising their free speech, look no further than what happens in 21st century “mostly peaceful” protests. It was also seen on January 6, 2020 at our nations capital. Most of the 21st century protests are full of ignorant trolls coming out from behind their keyboards trying to troll others into an emotional frenzy creating the chaotic anti-civil hysteria they thrive on.
Trolls never learned to set aside their childish ways.
We used to teach the youth in our society this concept of setting aside childish behaviors, however, our participation trophy society is enabling, and in some ways promoting, immature behaviors from the ignorant non-critical thinking snowflakes they’ve created.
Yes our society is seriously screwed up right now and the evidence is all around us and clearly visible in the behaviors of masses of people that never set aside their childish ways exhibit behaviors that they think are acceptable.
Zoe Brian wrote, “They certainly reflect a substantial part, the cutting edge, of the party hierarchy.”
I think that’s your bias talking.
I honestly think you may be ignoring the wide swaths of the political right that have openly condemn such rhetoric in the past and continue to do so today.
In Virginia, after Dem. governor candidate Spanberger refused to say she condemned her AG tocket mate for his homicidal texts, the Democrats tried to “gotcha!” her opposition, Winsome Sears, by calling on her to condemn the Young Republican assholes who were caught riffing positively about raping women, killing Jews, and abusing blacks. Sears responded (I’m paraphrasing) “Sure: they should all go. Your turn, Abigail!”
I wasn’t referring to your post, so much as I was to your VP’s justification. That has been broadcast worldwide.
Having said that, it’s important to me if nobody else that I write that the GOP is conducting a colonic cleansing of itself, having fired 4 of those contributing that I know of, people in senior positions too, not small fry.
if I’m to take a serve at Vance and the rest of the MAGA set, it’s really important to me, for personal reasons of honour and ethics, that I also give credit to those who I disagree with, but aren’t actual Nazis or their followers.
Zoe Brian wrote, “…your VP…”
The Vice President of the United States of America is our VP.
I’m having a hard time following the rest of your comment, can you please clarify your thoughts.
Zoe isn’t in the U.S., remember, so in her case “your” is appropriate.
I’m not sure I was aware of that, if I was it completely slipped my memory.
New Zealand, I believe.
I’ll take you mistaking me as an American as a compliment.
FWIW I live in Canberra, Australia. I was born not far from Windsor Castle in the UK, and came out here in 1968 at age 10.
My late uncle Ted gained US citizenship in the 50s, working for the NRO, NSA, and later SRI, but I’ve never had a desire to live in the US, having visited it a number of times doing work I can’t talk about.
I liked Portland OR though. I digress.
I have both UK and Australian citizenship. I was naturalised in 1988 when I found myself authoring highly sensitive documents I wasn’t allowed to read, they were (rightly) classified (by me ) as Australian Eyes Only.
I’ve had access to US sensitive material, including N̈OFORN SCI, but all such clearances are long gone.
Thanks for the extended personal update. I’ll try to remember for the next time.
Breaking news. Teenagers and young 20 somethings delight in saying offensive things for a secret forbidden laugh.
Rationalization #1!
I don’t think it’s a rationalization for bad behavior so much as a rebuttal to the idea that this proves that Republicans have a Nazi problem. Or a moron problem, at least beyond a direct correlation with the number of male members of the party under 25 years old.
Of the contributors to the Nazi thread, the two youngest were both 24. Two were in their mid 30s.
Yes, “He’s just a kid” is too dumb a rationalization to make the list when it is applied as an excuse for a man over 20.
So is this the man behind the curtain being revealed, and the future leaders of the Republican Party are actual Nazis and misogynists? Or is it mob mentality, with (immature) friends trying, in private, to one-up each other in sheer audacity and outrageousness?
Please note I never used it as an excuse or rationalization for their behavior. At the very least, it demonstrates that they should not be leading any organization, at least not without a lot more maturing.
All I’m pushing back on is the ridiculous (and extremely harmful) assertion that we have an actual Nazi problem, that it’s widespread, that it’s being normalized, or that it reveals itself in the leadership or policies of one of America’s two major political parties.
That was exactly my point and to Jacks point about pushing back when one hears abhorrent ideas I have done so with others but not everyone does. I don’t make accusations I merely say something is unwarranted or just plain BS. At the extreme when a brother of mine suggested publicly I was a Nazi in a venue which my professional colleagues could see I decided to end our familial relationship. I don’t miss him one bit.
When I was working as a college student at the local McDonald’s back in 199….., our franchise owner had a philosophy about the shenanigans in which the male teens and young adults at his stores sometimes participated. He called it Young Stupid Male Syndrome.
They say stupid things. They do stupid things. They don’t think before they do them. They are easily drawn in by a vortex created by other young stupid males.
And, eventually, they grow up.
He only knew one fellow who hadn’t suffered from YSM Syndrome and that was the guy he had working a store manager, who later became the franchise manager when more stores were added and who, much later, was arrested for seduction of a minor and fired.
Maybe he should have gone through his own YSM phase earlier.
(Disclaimer: YSM syndrome is not intended to imply that all men are stupid or that there are no stupid females out there, young or old)
Now, I don’t know if these young Republicans were joking. I don’t know if they were serious. I don’t know if they were trolling. I don’t know if they even knew what they were doing. But they are Young Stupid Males. I do hope they grow up but, until they do, they should be put through remedial internet education and not be trusted with an electronic device until they pass at least the sections titled “Nothing on the Internet is Secret” and “People Are Out to Get You!”
I had exactly one true YSM moment when I was 15, and it almost killed someone. That it didn’t was pure moral luck.
And clearly you took the lesson to heart. Well done.
“ ‘Nothing on the Internet is Secret’ and ‘People Are Out to Get You!’ ”
AKA: The difference between LOVE and SEND?
SEND is forever…
PWS
SpeakerJohnson made a statement about the Young Republicans and the flag image.
I will give this story until Monday to ripen and see 8f there is anything to even discuss.
I disagree with the assessment of the first part of the post, that Rep. Taylor is by necessity responsible for the swastika and must resign.
In a world where United States Representatives pull fire alarms to delay inconvenient votes, and where campaign opponents hire ex-spies to invent treasonous collision, I find it sadly plausible a liberal-leaning janitor, intern, staffer, or even elected official personally would tamper with a conservative’s office.
Leaving a swastika on someone’s wall is a tediously common form of vandalism; visit a public bathroom and see what’s carved in the stall doors. Why wouldn’t people vandalize the offices of “Literal Nazis”?
Asking Angelo Elia (the staffer whose wall had the defaced flag) to stay home during the investigation would be appropriate. Innocent or not, he has a target on his back. He is not in a position to deny anything, because he has the Striesand Effect to consider, as well as his literal life. For critics of conservatives, facts don’t matter, they already think he and his boss are Nazis, and the swastika just more evidence thereof.
He has a dumb, lazy, incompetent staff. He’s untrustworthy. He should resign, but about half of Congress should resign. Let’s see…I haven’t checked…yeah, he is undistinguished in every way. He spent a few years as an assistant DA, then went back to his family’s concrete business. These are the kinds of mediocrities that people elect to Congress now. The flag mess is just a symptom of general incompetence.
It is of course possible Rep Taylor tolerates Nazi imagery, and is calling for the investigation to stall and duck accountability. It just seems implausible that anyone would knowingly display a literal swastika in the US Capitol. Taylor condemned the image, saying it is not something tolerated in his office and is investigating how it got there. Denying the image would be absurd.
I doubt anyone would cut off a toe and hide it in a Republican’s office to embarrass them, but they might draw a swastika to taunt the “threat to democracy”.
As for the Young Republics, they have no one to blame but themselves.
The people who participated in these chats should all be publicly expelled from the Republican Party. YR chapters that tolerate such talk need to be closed. The GOP should make it abundantly clear that there is no place for racism and antisemitism in the party. Every political party and movement needs discipline on which messages are allowed; William F. Buckley wrote the John Birch Society and the disciples of Ayn Rand out of the conservative movement, and it is time that the conservatives today, and the GOP also practice discipline. E.g. Tucker Carlson and Camilla Owens also deserve to be shunned. People who propagate these ideas only bring the party and the movement down.
As for Rep. Taylor, he should at least be primaried for the next mid terms. As for stepping down, I am all for it, provided that he is replaced by a Republican. Which should be no problem given that Ohio has a Republican governor.
Not addressing these issues adequately, but denying and minimizing them creates a cognitive dissonance problem for the GOP, confirms the idea that the GOP is Nazi and fascist, and helps the Democrats with their “both sides” messaging getting Jay Jones off the hook.
With the razor thin margins in the House it would be politically stupid to give his seat to a Democrat. I am aware that this reflects a utilitarian approach to ethics, but you have to consider what is good for the country, and giving the House to the Democrats is not an ethical acceptable outcome if you believe that the agenda of the Democrats is bad for the country. Dealing with cognitive dissonance is preferable than forfeiting the game.
Pivoting back to Jay Jones, I kind of empathize with the Democrats in Virginia who plug their noses and still vote for Jay Jones as they would rather see him AG than Miyares, based on their political stance. Empathize, not sympathize, as I favor the GOP. In many times the political platform of a candidate carries (should carry?) more weight than the candidate’s personal failures.
Interesting discussion. I hang out a lot with younger types, both my son and stepson, and my students. I think it is hard to underestimate how much people under 30 or 35 have been just raised in an internet culture of shitposting and irony. So for SOME of the comments, I’d be tempted to give them a pass. Even some of the Nazi/fascist stuff. Not the ovens and Jews and watermelon and N word stuff. But I talk about my own hometown, Arlington, as “The People’s Republic of Arlington.” I don’t mean to truly suggest that it is a place like Maoist China or current North Korea. It’s about as far from a police state as one can imagine. I just mean to suggest what an extreme liberal bubble it is. And to KIND OF make fun of its critics (who sometimes seriously call liberals communists, I’ve even seen it done on this website). And if I were a Young Republican, frequently called a fascist, I can easily see adopting Der Fuhrer rhetoric as a way to mock my opponents. Yeah, we’re all really fascist here, you nailed it, Libs. It’s funny because they probably didn’t think there was a scintilla of truth to it. There is one other thing going on here, worth noting. Someone asked “why didn’t anyone criticize it?” Today, within both ideological bubbles, it is often hard to be the one calling out your own side for bad jokes, extreme positions, etc. I’m on a FB group for Arlington residents, where folks are CELEBRATING how Stephen Miller got chalk graffiti at his N Arlington home, and is now moving to keep his family safe. I pointed out that there really are armed threats from the left, even if the number of violent incidents are outnumbered by those on the Right. And lots of chalk won’t hurt you, but one bullet could. And just posting that, even along with clearly saying I was opposed to most Miller/Trump policies, was difficult–I’m expecting a lot of people to insist that making life hard for Miller is simple justice. So there exists a deeper and deeper groupthink within ideological bubbles–no one is saying “hey cut it with the Hitler stuff” so the folks doing it do more, and since no one else is saying anything, they go to the N word and watermelons and Jews and ovens. And since no one wants to be the moderate, “political correct” “humorless bitch”…silence breeds silence. There’s actually a great theory by a French political scientist called “The Spiral of Silence” about how public opinion in democracies is often exaggerated for this very reason, and she was writing decades before the Internet.